If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
John CleeseRead
He who laughs most, learns best.
Interpretation
Laughter enhances learning and retention.
This quote by John Cleese suggests that a good sense of humor and the ability to laugh are key components in the learning process. It implies that those who find joy and humor in their experiences are more likely to absorb knowledge effectively and retain it over time.
In practice
During a workshop on creativity, I shared this quote to remind participants that laughter can inspire innovative thinking.
If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
Because, as we all know, itβs easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And itβs also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that weβre not so sure about.
If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time to be considering alternative strategies.
In Britain, girls seem to be either bright or attractive. In America, that's not the case. They're both.
I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.
If I meet other people and criticize their weaknesses, I rob myself of higher cognitive power. But if I try to enter deeply and lovingly into another person's good qualities, I gather in that force.
It is only great souls that know how much glory there is in being good.
Lose what? A man only has a soul to be won or lost; apart from his life, he has nothing. Past or future lives do not matter - at the moment you are living this one, and you should do so with silent comprehension, joy and enthusiasm. What you must not lose is your enthusiasm.
If you have a problem with people living their lives and being authentically who they are, you really should go and do some soul-searching.
There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous.
It 's wiser being good than bad; It 's safer being meek than fierce; It 's fitter being sane than mad. My own hope is, a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched; That after Last returns the First, Though a wide compass round be fetched.
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